Flames
by little toy soldiers
Summary: michael&alex. "'My name's Michael." Her eyes began to glaze over as he added, "I'm here to save you.'"


**Flames**

**Summary: **Little did Nikita know there were two people who helped the 13 year old Russian out of the burning house that night./michael&alex, minor michael&nikita

**a/n: **you will not understand how much this plot has been haunting me. For weeks now. I couldn't take the pressure anymore so I made a oneshot for it. PLUS I CAN'T TAKE THIS HAITUS ANYMORE! A week and like 5 days till Nikita comes back (with awesome Malex scenes)? Horrible. I had to make up Alex's last name by the way. Oh and I apologize if I screwed up the dates completely. I'm not good with math. ehm.

**Setting: **sometime after Alex becomes an agent.

…

**June 24****th****, 2004**

"But can't we just get the girl out and then start the fire?" Nikita begged Michael for what felt like the hundredth time that day. Ever since they had left Nikita had been pressing the _there's-an-innocent-13-year-old-girl-we're-about-to-kill _issue, and quite frankly, it was giving him a headache.

"No, Nikita." Michael gripped the steering wheel and glared at the road straight ahead of him. "I have it on direct orders from Percy to start a fire and leave the family behind." He looked at Nikita. "_All of them."_

"Michael!" She whined. She figured whining wasn't going to get them anywhere so she decided to press the issue with guilt. "Don't you care?" She asked softly. "Don't you care that there is some defenseless girl in there who is going to die from an issue that she has nothing to do with?"

Michael let a frustrated sigh. "It's in my contract _not_ to care." But he wasn't angry with Nikita for saying it, he was only angry with himself. The truth was that yes, he did care that he was going to be killing a mother and a daughter who had no idea what was going on but he knew that he couldn't save them if he wanted to keep his loyalty to Division.

Nikita gave Michael a pointed look and whispered, "You don't have to pretend like none of this matters, you know." If only that were true.

…

**April 15****th****, 2011**

"I have it on good authority that you are not supposed to be down here," a voice startled Alex causing her to jump.

"Michael," she breathed in shock.

Michael smiled and tilted his head while studying the surprised look on her face. "What brings you here?"

Alex shrugged trying to act more casual then she felt, secretly hitting herself for momentarily putting her guard down and getting caught. "I was just looking for the folder for the Smith OP." Michael raised his eyebrows, clearly not believing a word she said. "Birkhoff let me in, I swear." Which was true, apparently Birkhoff was more gullible then he seemed.

Michael nodded his head slowly. "I believe you," he said with an uncertainty that made it clear that he didn't believe her at all. Although this hadn't been the first time Michael had seen straight through one of Alex's lies but did nothing about it, ever since Alex had become an agent something had changed between her and Michael. Maybe it was trust; he didn't seem to have much of it for her anymore.

"I-I have to go," she muttered quickly before shoving the folder that she had been gripping in her hands neatly back into the filing cabinet where it came from and walked out of the room.

Michael, however, stayed.

And went back to the cabinet to get the folder Alex had been holding. He scanned the row of neatly placed folders for the one that looked misplaced and then grabbed it only to feel a wave of guilt when he picked it up in his hands and scanned the label. He wanted to trust her, he really wanted to, but there was just something that was always off about her that he just needed to find out

The words _Andropov OP_ were scrawled across in Percy's scrawl. Michael tried to rake his brain for any memories or importance of that particular OP but he came up with nothing. He flipped open to the folder and read the first few lines on the first page.

**KILL JOB**

**Dimitri Andropov- 43 years old**

**Vera Andropov- 40 years old**

Michael felt his heart drop to his stomach when he read the line under that one:

**Alexandra Andropov- 13 years old **

…

**June 24****th****, 2004**

"Remember Percy's instructions?" Michael muttered to Nikita as he placed a gas mask over his head, enclosing himself so he wouldn't be effected by the heat.

"Yeah, yeah. Get in, torch the place, get out." Nikita rolled her eyes. "_I got it_."

Michael sighed and looked Nikita intently in the eyes. "I need to know that you are going to take this mission seriously, Nikita." He didn't bother adding, _I need to know that you are on our side._

"I am, Michael," Nikita said returning the look. "I am."

Michael smiled slightly and nodded towards the building that was down the street from them. It was around one in the morning and he could hardly see a thing but the house had bright lights shining as if inviting a group of assassins to come and set their house on fire. "Let's do this thing."

…

**April 16****th****, 2011**

"Michael caught me before I could grab the file and run," Alex admitted meekly.

"Damn," Nikita muttered. She propped her elbows on the small table in kitchen section of Alex's apartment and let out a sigh.

"Remind me again why we need that file?"

Nikita looked up at Alex. "Well for the obvious, if Percy were to, I don't know, need to do a double check on his mission files or something, well he might find that file and probably get a little suspicious when he sees your picture in it." Nikita shrugged. "Just a thought."

"Well why didn't we think of this _before _I got into Division?" Alex asked impatiently.

Nikita gave an exasperated sigh. "I don't know Alex, it hadn't really crossed my mind, ok?"

"Well what made you think of it now?" Alex asked.

"Owen happened to so kindly remind me that Division keeps record of every mission they have and then I thought 'oh hey, Alex was apart of one their missions' so here we are." Nikita looked down at her coffee cup. "Did Michael suspect you of anything."

Alex bit her lip. "…Maybe."

"Maybe?"

"Ok, most likely?" Nikita tensed but Alex shook her head. "It's Michael we're talking about here, remember? Who's he going to tell?"

"Maybe you're right…"

Alex nodded. "I _am_ right. We both know he won't say anything," She let out a little laugh. "He doesn't have the guts."

Nikita smiled at that. "That's true. He's always such a big softie."

"Was Michael on that mission?" Alex asked curiously.

Nikita nodded slowly, avoiding Alex's eyes. "Yeah," she said slowly. Alex didn't bother asking the question that was suddenly haunting her already knowing the answer from Nikita's eyes. _Did he kill my parents?_

...

**June 24****th****, 2004**

The silence in the house was eerie yet peaceful at the same time. A nausea of guilt built of in Michael's stomach again at the thought of a poor family going from rich and happy to dead within a half hour. Then the thought of the thirteen year old girl popped into his mind again causing more guilt. Stupid Nikita.

"Michael," Another agent whispered from behind, "It's all clear up here, Andropov is upstairs, so is the wife."

He nodded and gulped. "The daughter?"

Agent Torrez didn't seem to notice the way Michael's face was suddenly growing pale. "Downstairs."

Nikita suddenly appeared fro behind them. "Everything's set." She looked Michael directly in the eye. "Ready?" Michael wondered why suddenly it was Nikita during the reassuring and Michael feeling the guilt. He nodded. He didn't need her to say anything to know she didn't believe him.

…

**April 16****th****, 2011**

Sometimes it was just better to not know details. Before Michael found the Andropov file, he didn't spend every second wondering if Alex was truly with Division or-god forbid-she was with Nikita. Of course, he did sometimes question her loyalty but he was always _sure_ he was just paranoid and crazy.

He also didn't spend a good portion of his time wondering how this could have been overlooked. What were the odds that someone that almost died- if it weren't for him and Nikita- because of a Division mission would have ended up in that exact place?

The odds were not in Alex's favor.

"Michael?" The voice belonged to none-other-than the person in thought.

He turned around. "Yes, Alex?" He tried to say it with an ease as if he didn't see anything or suspect anything.

Alex tugged at the hem off her blouse nervously. "I just wanted to-"

Michael shook his head to silence her. "I saw nothing, I heard nothing. Are we clear?"

Alex looked at him and slowly nodded her head in that innocent way of hers.

Michael smiled. "Good." He quickly handed Alex a manila folder and turned around. She didn't have to look down to know what the folder was.

…

**June 24****th****, 2004**

"Time to leave!" Agent Torrez as the flames started growing. "Everything's clear!"

Michael stayed back and watched each agent run out the door away from the big fire. "Where's Nikita?" He called.

Agent Torrez shrugged. "Should I go back and get her?" He asked.

Michael looked back and saw what he imagined to be hell. Flames began to eat away at the curtains, wooden chairs began exploding from the heat. He shook his head. "Negative, I'll go back. Get everyone in the van, we'll be back soon." Torrez nodded and ran outside.

Michael turned and quickly thanking Percy for forcing all the agents to wear the suits and then ran for the stairs in hopes that they hadn't been burned away. He already knew Nikita was off to save the girl.

He ran quickly taking two steps at a time but stopped when he got to the middle step.

Smoke was everywhere. If anyone had been down here, there was no way they were alive now. He turned around and headed for the back way out of the house knowing if stayed inside any longer, he would fall through the floorboards from the fire eating them away.

His vision cleared as he stepped into fresh air off the outdoors. From the corner of his eyes he saw a figure run. Nikita. He started after her but stopped when he saw something else. _Someone _else. A girl.

…

**April 16****th****, 2011**

"What are we going to do with the folder?" Alex asked as she handed it to Nikita. They were standing in the living room of Alex's apartment.

Nikita took a step toward the fire in the fireplace. "Burn of course," she whispered as she threw in. Together, she and Alex watched the fire eat away at the paper. Nikita gave Alex a smile. "Now that night never happened."

Alex kept her eyes trained on the fire trying to ignore the irony of the situation, this whole mess started with fire and now it's ending with it. "If only that were true," she muttered.

Nikita glanced at her friend. "What _did_ Michael say when he gave you the folder?"

Alex bit her lip. She didn't want to think about the possibility of Michael helping the cause of her parents' death, she just thought of the newfound trust they both mutuality shared. "Nothing," she said, "He didn't say anything at all."

…

**June 24****th****, 2004**

The girl was unconscious and lying in the grass near the house. For a second Michael shook his head knowing Nikita had made a minor mistake, if help hadn't gotten there quicker then this girl could have died from being too close to the fire and smoke.

Michael took off his mask and tossed it to the side getting a better view of the girl. She was pretty he'll give her that. He could see that she had dark hair but the rest of her was covered in ash.

Michael scooped her up in his arms and carried her further away from the house and next to a small creek. He gently set her down on the grass and took a handful of water and splashed it on her face. Her eyes began to flicker slowly until they rested on him. "Kto vy?" She gasped quietly. _Who are you?_

Michael smiled at the girl as she tried to fight consciousness. "My name's Michael." Her eyes began to glaze over as he added, "I'm here to save you."

…

**a/n: **writing wise I give myself a C-. I didn't know I could suck so bad at writing but alas, I can. Plot wise I give myself a B+ because I am quite proud of it but not much happened out of it. It mainly just told Michael's side of the fire (if Michael was even there. I bet he was) and Michael finding out that the girl was Alex.

Review por favor.


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